Editorial: VA needs top-to-bottom makeover to help vets

A law signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 elevated the Veterans Administration, an independent agency, to the Cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs.

The change was a recognition of the importance of taking care of the men and women who served their nation in the military. At the time, a full one-third of all Americans were affected by the VA’s programs, which included health care, veterans’ benefits (disability, education, home loans) and VA cemeteries.

And it gave the VA’s director, elevated to Cabinet secretary, direct access to the president.

That, at least, was the theory.

Twenty-five years later (the law actually went into effect on March 15, 1989), it is apparent that a seat at the Cabinet table is not enough to overcome the natural weaknesses of an entrenched bureaucracy trying to deal with a growing and increasingly complex constituency.

It’s not clear whether the embarrassing scandal that threatens to envelop the VA is the result of bad management, uncaring employees, budget shortfalls or simply the inability of an organization so large to meet the nation’s expectations. Perhaps it’s just too darn big. (VA employees stand accused of trying to cover up the agency’s problems. So do GM employees.)

What is clear, however, is that forcing out former Secretary Eric Shinseki and replacing him with another former military officer will not be enough to right the VA’s ship. The VA needs a complete overhaul.

On Tuesday, negotiators from the House of Representatives held their first meeting to work out difference between the two houses’ versions of a bill to start dealing with the myriad problems facing the VA.

One significant provision of the legislation would deal with the most immediate of the VA’s woes — the unacceptably long waits that many veterans have experienced trying to get appointments with VA doctors, a problem that has been particularly acute at the Reno VA hospital, which reported some of the longest waits in the system.

The bill being negotiated in Congress would allow some veterans to go to private doctors and facilities when they can’t get an appointment, a provision supported by U.S. Dean Heller, R-Nev. At best that’s only a short-term solution, however. It seems unlikely that the nation’s already overburdened health-care system could handle a large influx of new patients, especially those in need of the specialized care that the VA is well-suited to handle.

The VA health system must deal with an aging population of veterans, but also one suffering the kinds of illnesses and injuries that are unique to those who have served in combat around the world.

So, for the long run, the VA needs more doctors, specialists, nurse and other skilled care givers.

Hiring more people is pointless, however, if the incompetent and, in some cases, criminal (there’s no other way to describe those who falsified records to cover up their failures and those of the system) management is allowed to stay in place. That’s why the president must choose a secretary to succeed Shinseki who is willing to clean house and hire top-notch, tough-minded managers committed to making over the organization.

We made a commitment to those who served that they would be taken care of. Today, we are failing far too many of them. The government must keep its promises to our veterans.